Joanna Baillie

BUSY work brings after ease;
Ease brings sport and sport brings rest;
For young and old of all degrees,
The mingled lot is best.…

Now in thy dazzling half-oped eye,
Thy curled nose and lip awry,
Uphoisted arms and noddling head,
And little chin with crystal spread,…

LIKE gleam of sunshine on the mountain's side,
Fair, bright and beautiful, while all beside,
Slope, cliff and pinnacle in shadow lie
Beneath the awning of a wintry sky,…

The cock, warm roosting 'midst his feather'd dames,
Now lifts his beak and snuffs the morning air,
Stretches his neck and claps his heavy wings,
Gives three hoarse crows, and glad his talk is done;…

SLEEP --and while slumber weighs thine eyelids down,
May no foul phantom o'er thy pillow frown;
But brightest visions deck thy tranquil bed,
And angels wings o'ercanopy thy head.…

LONG gone, for ever gone! the joys of Spring;
And Summer's brighter objects, riper cares;
Now Autumn's lingering train are on the wing,
For me the yellow leaf all nature wears!Yet Hope, benignant power! with cheering smile,…

It fell on a morning whan we were thrang,
⁠ Our kirn was gaun, our cheese was making,
⁠And bannocks on the girdle baking,
That ane at the door chapt loud and lang.…

Even now methinks
Each little cottage of my native vale
Swells out its earthen sides, upheaves its roof,
Like to a hillock moved by labouring mole,…

THE rising moon look'd clear and mild,
In chasten'd tints of glowing eve,
And bright the early morning smil'd;
It flatter'd only to deceive!…

I ’VE no sheep on the mountain, nor boat on the lake,
Nor coin in my coffer to keep me awake,
Nor corn in my garner, nor fruit on my tree,—
Yet the maid of Llanwellyn smiles sweetly on me.Soft tapping, at eve, to her window I came,…

'THE NEW YEAR'S GIFT.'ALL white hang the bushes o'er Elaw's sweet stream,
And pale from the rock the long icicles gleam;
The first peep of morning just peers from the sky,
And here, at thy door, gentle Mary, am I.…

Amor se vuvi ch'i torni al giogo antico.
--P.2. C.2.AWAY, proud boy, away! thou canst not harm;
Seize not thy unstrung bow, nor aim thv dart,
Void is thy quiver, nerveless is thine arm,…

CHARM'D by the patriot muse of Flodden Field,
My country's dearer claims the while forgot,
I almost wish'd that Surry's host might yield,
And (pardon England) long'd to be a Scot.…

Oh, neighbours! what had I ado for to marry,
My wife she drinks possets and wine o' Canary,
And ca's me a niggardly, thraw-gabbit early,
O gin my wife wad drink hooly and fairly!…

The dark-blue clouds of night in dusky lines,
Drawn wide and streaky o'er the purer sky,
Wear faint the morning purple on their skirts.
The stars that full and bright shone in the west,…

HE, who with journey well begun,
Beneath the beam of morning's sun,
Stretching his view o'er hill and dale,
And distant city, (thro' its veil…

SWEET lake! while shades are closing round,
I love to haunt thy tranquil shore,
And mournful tread the hallow'd ground
Which Emma's form shall grace no more.…

Saw ye Johnny comin', quo' she,
⁠ Saw ye Johnny comin'.
Saw ye Johnny comin', quo' she,
⁠Saw ye Johnny comin;…

Upon the grass no longer hangs the dew;
Forth hies the mower with his glittering scythe,
In snowy shirt bedight, and all unbraced,
He moves athwart the mead with sideling bend,…

NOW, when the kindling Spring breathes life and joy
Through earth and air, perfuming field and bow'r;
While rings from every copse glad minstrelsy;
And sparkling myriads float round shrub and flow'r;…

IN these our days of sentiment
When youthful poets all lament
Some dear lost joy, some cruel maid;
Old friendship changed and faith betrayed;…

GRAND-DAD , they say you're old and frail,
Your stiffened legs begin to fail:
Your staff, no more my pony now,
Supports your body bending low,…

IN a dream of the night I was wafted away,
To the moorland of mist where the martyrs lay;
Where Cameron's sword and his bible are seen,
Engrav'd on the stone where the heather grows green.…

O, go not by Dunorloch's walls
When the moon is in the wane,
And cross not o'er Dunorloch's bridge,
The farther bank to gain!…